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This team is toast in the playoffs. No bye, then potentially two consecutive road games, if they even make it that far.
■ Sunday’s loss was appropriate, though. The Patriots have been dreadful on offense all season, and have wracked up 12 wins thanks to their defense and an incredibly soft schedule. They’re not close to the second-best team in the AFC, and their playoff seeding now matches it.
And they might be one-and-done if they have to play the Titans next week, who are one of the hottest teams in the NFL and have been running up a ton of points since Ryan Tannehill took over at quarterback.
■ Give a lot of credit to coach Brian Flores and the Dolphins, who seemed to play with more heart and passion than the Patriots. The Dolphins had the perfect offensive game plan to handle the Patriots’ blitzes, and played with nothing to lose, calling a bevy of trick plays. The Dolphins don’t have much talent on the roster right now, and their quarterback is a 37-year-old journeyman. But they played with a lot of heart, guts and brains. After nearly two decades of floundering, the Dolphins look like they have found the right coach.
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■ Tom Brady was flat-out awful on Sunday, looking every bit his age. He badly sailed several throws, none worse than the one he threw way out of bounds, over Mohamed Sanu’s head, in the corner of the end zone on third and goal. Brady also threw his first pick-six of the year, on a pass that was difficult to discern if it was intended for Sony Michel or Julian Edelman.
Brady only had two big throws all day — a 50-yarder to Phillip Dorsett that was really more about good concentration by the receiver, and a 38-yard touchdown to Elandon Roberts, who wasn’t covered.
What was most disappointing about this performance by Brady is that he is coming off one of his sharpest games of the season against Buffalo, but he couldn’t keep it going for two straight weeks. Brady had a giant ice pack on his elbow after the Buffalo game and said it was a new injury. It sure looked as if it was affecting him Sunday.
■ Bill Belichick must have zero faith in his offense, because his handling of the clock at the end of the first half was otherwise baffling and disappointing. The Patriots could have called timeout before the Dolphins’ punt, and gotten the ball back with about 1:40 left and two timeouts. Instead, Belichick let the clock run down, then handed the ball off twice and ran into the locker room, eating all three of his timeouts.
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It’s not too often we see Belichick willingly pass up a double-score opportunity. But the Patriots’ offense was dreadful, and he clearly didn’t have any confidence in it.
■ I understand Edelman is dealing with several injuries and just isn’t himself right now, which is why he was held to three catches for just 26 yards on seven targets. But why weren’t N’Keal Harry and James White more heavily involved in the passing game? Harry had three catches for 29 yards on seven targets, and one rush for 9 yards, but he’s their best playmaker, and the Patriots need to get the ball in his hands more.
And White didn’t see his first target of the day until 7:30 remained in the third quarter. He finished with three catches for 33 yards, including a touchdown on a 13-yard screen pass. If Edelman isn’t healthy, White should be getting fed more regularly.
■ The Patriots’ defense might be a tad overrated. The Patriots shut down the Dolphins’ run game, holding them to 63 yards and a 2.9 average, but Ryan Fitzpatrick carved up the Patriots’ secondary for much of the game.
The Patriots also were way too aggressive. They brought a heavy number of blitzes at Fitzpatrick, leaving their receivers in 1-on-1 coverage, and Fitzpatrick seemed to find the right receiver every time. DeVante Parker got the better of Stephon Gilmore for much of the game, catching eight passes for 137 yards.
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■ The Patriots entered the game ranked 27th in red zone touchdown percentage, and yet again, struggled to punch the ball into the end zone. They got all the way down to the 7-yard line in the second quarter, but stalled. Their red zone offense has been shockingly bad this year.
Then in the fourth quarter they moved backward from first and goal from the 10, but were able to score on a 13-yard screen pass to White on a huge third-down play. That was a great call, and the Patriots deserve credit for executing in crunch time. But this team is going nowhere in the playoffs if they can’t figure out how to score in the red zone.
■ At least the running game was solid once again. Michel continued his impressive December by rushing 18 times for 74 yards and a well-earned 4-yard touchdown run in which he powered through multiple defenders. And Rex Burkhead was powerful and elusive, rushing six times for 48 yards and showing impressive moves. The Patriots’ run game is literally their only hope in the playoffs.
■ Marcus Cannon continues to struggle, allowing Trent Harris, a former Patriots practice squadder, to burn right past him on the edge for a big sack in the second half. But Shaq Mason deserves a helmet sticker for his big block on White’s fourth-quarter touchdown catch. Without that block, White probably doesn’t get into the end zone.
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■ Ben Watson and Jakobi Meyers killed the Patriots Sunday. Watson, who had one catch for 4 yards, had an offensive pass interference penalty that wiped out a big catch by Sanu, then committed a false start penalty inside the 10-yard line that almost cost the Patriots a touchdown. And Meyers, who did not have a pass thrown his way all day, committed an illegal shift penalty early in the fourth quarter that killed a Patriots drive. Meyers got taken out of the game and got a deserved earful from Josh McDaniels.
Ben Volin can be reached at ben.volin@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @BenVolin
"thing" - Google News
December 30, 2019 at 04:23AM
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In an embarrassing loss to Dolphins, one thing is clear: Patriots going nowhere in playoffs - The Boston Globe
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